About the episode
Researchers pointed the James Webb telescope at the oldest universe previously discovered by the Hubble telescope. Within that universe they discovered something impressive: a supermassive black hole. It is the oldest black hole ever detected.
The fact that such a massive black hole could form so early in the universe – namely 400 million years after the Big Bang – baffles researchers around the world. The supermassive black holes we already knew about, like the one at the center of our Milky Way, were thought to have taken billions of years to reach that size.
But this new supermassive black hole must have gotten very large in a much shorter time. Presumably black holes can also be born large, or the black hole eats matter from the environment much faster. It should be about five times faster than previously thought possible.
The small universe in which this supermassive black hole is located is not granted a long life with such a glutton. This also means the end of the black hole itself, because with this shock it hinders the formation of stars and ultimately has nothing left to eat.
Read more about the research here: Astronomers detect oldest black hole ever observed
2024-01-20 10:01:37
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